The travels and adventures of three young women in 19th-century Australia, each seeking 'The Golden Clime' - that place which promises each of them both happiness and prosperity.
Set in a period when the wilder parts of Australia were being gradually opened up by the more intrepid and adventurous of its people, this book tells the story of three young women from widely divergent backgrounds. Each embarks on a long and difficult journey through virgin country in search of the 'Golden Clime' - some place which promises both happiness and prosperity. Elizabeth, the daughter of a struggling pastoralist, runs away from a dull husband and a claustrophobic background in search of adventure. Georgiana, daughter of a titled and wealthy landowner, is forced to flee the fleshpots of Sydney because of debts and scandal. Jenny, child of an ex-convict and an Irish immigrant, seeks to lift herself and her family from the abject poverty in which they exist. The three women were childhood acquaintances and, though their lives diverge widely as they grow to maturity, destiny eventually brings them together again.
The story of their early lives, of their separate journeys, and of the way in which each finally comes to terms with her future, is a gripping one.
With Foreword by Senator Nick Bolkus, Shadow Minister for Environment and Heritage, Parliament of Australia
Shanghai Escapist grabs the faint-of-heart right from the get-go and serves up an ultimatum: What would you do if caught in the same circumstances? From the opening scene, the reader is tossed into the maze of daily intrigue as it existed in 1960s-70
Autumn 1940. Germany invades Britain. Newport is blitzed. Danny O’Shea’s house is bombed, his wife is killed. While taking his young son Adam to neutral Ireland, they witness an attack on a German convoy. The result is brutal.
